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Friday, December 20, 2013

Let's be honest, nobody but friends and family read this blog.
I'm good with that. People ask us, "Why?" on our choice regarding Santa, and this is the reason. This isn't a recruitment drive, just an explanation. No, you won't agree with all of it. That's ok. We love you, anyway, and hope you'll do the same. Written with love...several times over. (Seriously, this has gone through quite a few drafts...and has taken me over two weeks to click "Publish.")

Our homemade stockings. Sandra's and both Bill's made by Gammie. Nate's made by Sandra to match.

Major spoiler alert. Children, look away.

"We
don't do Santa." Four simple words. The power they hold is
astounding. To utter them aloud is to roll the dice, never really
knowing what will come. (To type them in a blog...very similar.)
Usually, the payout is a very uncomfortable conversation.

We aren't grinches. We
don't say it with
our noses in the air. We don't scream it like a
battle-cry. We certainly don't throw it in people's
faces on a whim. The only time it comes up, really, is when people ask
the kids what they asked Santa for. We respond with those four words,
usually quite sheepishly, because we
just don't know how they will react. They may want to talk more about
it,
as though we are merely mistaken, and just need a good talk to be
convinced. They might shift
uncomfortably, as our checkout-line-neighbor conversation vanishes into
thin air. It's just plain awkward.

Likely, people assume we have some
sad Santa-shaped scar in our childhood that we are trying to hide
from. We don't. We both grew up with the Santa traditions on Christmas, and both of
us absolutely loved it. In fact, if you had told me, five years ago, that we wouldn't be including Santa
in our Christmas celebration with our kids, I never would have believed you.

My
wife and I discussed it for a
while. A few years back, she told me she wasn't sure she wanted to do
Santa when we had kids. I thought she'd lost her mind. How could we
not do Santa? It's what parents do. It's a vital, meaningful tradition
filled with joy and wonder! Not only that, it was something I had
always looked forward to doing with our kids! She was more worried that
our kids would be completely crushed by the truth...like I was (I had to spend quite a while curled up in Mom's lap, having a good cry.), and wanted to make sure we kept Christ as the central reason and teaching for Christmas. I told
her that was just me, at the time: rather a crybaby. I had no
reservations about letting our kids believe in Santa, and I maintained
that both Christ and Santa could coexist on
Christmas morning. Christ is the reason for celebration, Santa would
just help us celebrate. Done.

One day, a couple of
years later, it came up again. The thought had resurfaced,
unprovoked, several times over those years, but I quickly brushed it
aside, telling the issue "Look, it's all good, we've already talked
about this." I was thinking about all the things I would miss out on if
we
didn't do it with the kids: the leaving out cookies (and a carrot for
Rudolph, of course), the writing letters, the eating cookies and leaving a trail of
crumbs behind as evidence, the wonderful stories I used to receive from
my Uncle about the elves who were keeping an eye on us (he knew them
personally), and so many other fun things. I love Christmas, and I
wanted it to be as special for our kids as it is for me, and these
things made it more special. Wait...more special? Then, a quiet
voice inside
that I've gotten a little better at listening to said "So, you're almost
thirty, and not having all these traditions is going to ruin your
celebration of the birth of Christ?" I realized that I was a
grown man, convinced that if my children didn't believe in this fantasy,
it would ruin my celebration. The celebration of my Lord's birth. A
Lord who came to this world for the express purpose of giving up his
life for mine, so that I could be with Him. Could anything in this
world truly make that more special?

Then,
I realized just what Santa was: an appetizer; an opening act. The
problem is, he's the appetizer we gorged
ourselves on until we spoiled our dinner. He's the opening act who got everyone to dance so hard that
they couldn't enjoy the headliner. Sure, you can say it's all in
how you present it, but let's be
realistic. Does a child have more interest in celebrating a Savior who
came to this world and died for their eternal soul, or someone who
magically flies around the world and brings them lots of toys? Please,
they're kids. Santa's going to
steal the show.

Does our 3-year
old recognize Santa? How could he not? He's everywhere.
How do we handle it? The same way we would handle any other fictional
character. He's there. He's got a name. He's not real.

Things just don't seem as
harmless today as they did when we were kids. We caught the movie Santa
Buddies a few
years back while we were hanging with some
younger cousins. The Buddies movies were huge back then, and beloved by kids everywhere. What could be cuter than finding a way to combine
talking puppies and Christmas, right? There is a scene toward the end
where it
shows various children around the world praying to Santa for him to
come. I kid you not. Kneeling at their bedsides, eyes closed and
everything. They managed to turn Santa from a myth into a deity.
That's a perfect example of the kind of confusion that is being created
in some kids today.

Sure,
we do a tree with tons of other decorations, presents in the wee hours
(which will only get wee-er as the kids get a little older), stockings (as awesomely displayed above), trips with
family and friends to look at lights, etc. But, through all of the
holiday traditions that we hold dear, we keep our focus on the Savior
who
voluntarily became the greatest gift we could have ever received, and
can't be taken away.

I promise, we are going to do everything we can to make sure our kids
don't stop you from celebrating Christmas in whatever way you have
chosen. They'll be instructed on how to go along with things without destroying the holidays of
children everywhere. For our little family, this is how it's going to
be done. As for you and yours, that's totally up to you.